Helljumper wrote:Eh, these comments aren't that big of a deal. Obviously referring to Kobe, but Dwight's comments are more in defense of himself than anything else. They'll work it out off the court, I just hope they can figure it out on the court.

...... just like Howard figured it out "off the court" in Orlando....

Get real... he's on a team that Kobe has played on for 17 season..... and starts this to defend his play?

Not defending his play. Defending his manhood against the implications that Kobe's comments suggest that Dwight's not an alpha.

Maybe I should've said it differently; they'll work it out off the court ... because there isn't much to work out. I'm pretty sure fans care more about these comments than either Dwight or Kobe. I feel like I'm back in the Bynum discussion thread with us reading too much into these comments.

Of course health has SOMETHING to do with it. But I also don't think you can pin his inconsistencies and at times, inefficiency, primarily on health. Is it a factor? Yes. But even if we agreed he is playing at 80%, didn't you expect better? I sure did.

Exactly, I didn't say it had "nothing" to do with it. I just said some of the inconsistencies I noticed don't seem to stem from health issues but from a lack of fundamentals/skills

For yet another player who spent time in the off season a couple years ago with Hakeem..... he should have spent a lot more. He doesn't seem like a player dedicated to really mastering his game and weaknesses.

Honestly, this is where we really miss a guy like Derek Fisher. Derek would have called a players meeting a long time ago.

Kobe isn't the type of leader that brings people together. He's not really the emotional, collaborative type like that. He's strictly business, and Dwight isn't.

One isn't necessarily better than the other, but you need that intermediary and there isn't one. Not in the coaching staff and not amongst the team (Nash isn't it folks). It really makes you wonder about the importance of Derek Fisher to a guy like Kobe, because if you think about it, we've been awful just about every time we haven't had Derek rostered.

What, you expect the front office this year or next to tell Kobe, OK thanks for everything but now you have to give up being #1 option and defer to a much less skilled and dedicated, limited offensive player in Dwight? Doubt that. Nor should they. Dwight hasn't earned squat here to be pissed about anything on the offensive end. His own damn fault he is so limited this many years in and shoots free throws for bleep.

KBJelleyBean24 wrote:I wonder what kind of package we can get if Dwight does a sign-and-trade once the season ends?

We can't do a sign and trade with the new anti-Laker-Stern-agenda rules. With the new CBA. Haven't we confirmed this several times?

We can't receive a player in sign & trade.. We also can't sign & trade a player to a team 4M or more over the tax.. We can do sign & trades it just has to be with teams under the tax.. Maybe ATL for Hortford & pieces..

JGC wrote:Dwight has the definition of an alpha wrong. There's only one thing to look for in an alpha. He likes to be hated. Anybody who likes to be hated is an alpha.

Guys like Kobe, KG even CP3 I would say ... they're a rare breed.

Did you just put Chris Paul in a sentence comparing him to Kobe and KG?.... Paul is hated because he's a baby who cries for fouls and flops. He's come up small when it counts every time so far in his career...... He belongs in a comparison of guys like Stat, Melo, Iverson and Marbury... not Kobe or KG.

"If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." Winston Churchill

“The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present - and is gravely to be regarded."Dwight Eisenhower

"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it"Thomas Sowell

JGC wrote:Dwight has the definition of an alpha wrong. There's only one thing to look for in an alpha. He likes to be hated. Anybody who likes to be hated is an alpha.

Guys like Kobe, KG even CP3 I would say ... they're a rare breed.

Did you just put Chris Paul in a sentence comparing him to Kobe and KG?.... Paul is hated because he's a baby who cries for fouls and flops. He's come up small when it counts every time so far in his career...... He belongs in a comparison of guys like Stat, Melo, Iverson and Marbury... not Kobe or KG.

Well, it doesn't really matter why they're hated. A lot of people hate Kobe because they think he whines and complains even though he gets all the calls for example.

I think cp3 loves the hate, loves to instigate and thrives on it and thats what makes him different than a Melo or Stat and more like a Kobe or KG. Cp3 has ice in his veins too.... guy hit two big buzzer beater type shots over Kobe.

KBJelleyBean24 wrote:I wonder what kind of package we can get if Dwight does a sign-and-trade once the season ends?

We can't do a sign and trade with the new anti-Laker-Stern-agenda rules. With the new CBA. Haven't we confirmed this several times?

We can't receive a player in sign & trade.. We also can't sign & trade a player to a team 4M or more over the tax.. We can do sign & trades it just has to be with teams under the tax.. Maybe ATL for Hortford & pieces..

This is what i thought. I may be wrong though.

I should get an assist for that. It's an intentional pass to oneself, so it's an assist. That way people can't say all I do is shoot.-Kobe on passing the ball to himself off the backboard.

At this point, we have a ton of team issues. Whether or not Dwight leaves, no one knows; however I believe if you he had to make a decision today, he would be gone. Oh, well. I'm not worried about it at all. This season seems like a lost cause. If it's not Pau complaining about post touches, then we have Dwight and his comments. One thing after another it seems...

Ramona Shelburne ‏@ramonashelburneI asked Dwight Howard if the Lakers liked each other. He said, "We have play like we like each other."Expand Reply Retweet Favorite

Ramona Shelburne ‏@ramonashelburneDwight: "Even if we don't want to be friends off the court, when we step in between the lines, we have to respect each other."Expand Reply Retweet Favorite

Ramona Shelburne ‏@ramonashelburneDwight: "It really starts off the court. I think you have to have that relationship and that chemistry off the court."Expand

Somebody doesn't like somebody and that problem needs to be fixed.

Kobe is just too much for Dwight to handle...

Kobe has zero intention on being buddy buddy with anybody off the court. I remember an article where Fisher said he's never even been to Kobe's house-- isn't that a guy Kobe has called his best friend in the world? Difference IMO is Kobe doesn't show Dwight the respect Dwight wants... always saying he's trying to "bring the dog out of him" and "he's close". Combined, Dwight just feels like Kobe walks over him. As he said, on the court they need to "respect" each other? Sounds like he's not getting the respect he wants. I'm assuming that's Kobe.

KD and Westbrook are great friends off the court. LeBron and Wade are best friends. Hell, Chris Paul and his wife were just out to dinner with Barnes and his wifey. Kobe's never been that guy and Dwight is a guy who feeds off positivity.. anything else and it burdens him.

But even all that taken into account, FCK Dwight for saying that stuff. If you want this team to be yours, learn to be a man. Taking veiled shots at Kobe is hardly the way to do it.

Looks like it may be a one and done unless some serious winning starts but even then, there is a strain in this team and Dwight and Kobe are the middle of it.

We have fired a coach, but kept all his assistants. We had our players sign off on Phil, get Phil to call his assistants, and then hired Dantoni literally hours before Phil was set to and told he could accept the job. Then we brought in Dantoni and only gave him his bro to implement his offense, effectively meaning every assistant is learning along with the players all at once with no camp.

We have Dwight, who came back early, way early, as he was set to debut by Christmas at the earliest, and he just can't physically give you that third bounce, run at full speed, or power thru traps and swipes like he was used too. It's his first major injury ever so its a self frustration.

There is Nash who was put in the Princeton, never played a ton of games with the team, and is counted on to just make ssol work on the fly like he never broke his leg or missed weeks and weeks.

We have MWP who played the best ball of his Laker career, then suddenly got demoted to the bench, got asked to become a locker room voice, then got asked to play PF and excelled at it, and then had his minutes at the 4 taken away because Pau complained and Hillmphas played too well to be benched.

Hill has outplayed Pau thoroughly but can't get the time he deserves.

Jamsion played well, got hurt versus the hornets, got benched, never played again, and just got a handful of minutes after complaining

You have youth that is young bit not ready to play at this level in Morris, Ebanks, Sacre, DJO, and Clark. They should all be starting for the Defenders. They shouldn't be on the roster, and honestly it is mind numbing that they have spots when Delonte and Kenyon are free agents and more ready to contribute as youth for youth is just stupid, when the youth is not good. Goudelock and CDR also fit Dantonis needs far better which makes it more mind numbing that Brown cut them from the roster only to be fired so soon.

Meeks gets signed, never gets to play under potato head without an explanation, gets ton of minutes with Dantoni, and wants to prove he stills deserves that time even while in a slump so he is working too hard

Blake and Duhon are Blake and Duhon. Ideally Duhon should backup Nash and Blake start in Morris place to make things work when he returns.

Pau, well he just sucks. It has free called since Phil punched him and said man up. He compounded that with a off first half of last season to Kobe called out the FO for him, and then he no showed that playoffs. He has no lift, no will, can't hit a jumper, and ultimately needs to be benched but if you bench him you will lose him mentally and lower his value as well as create an even worse environment.

Kobe and then there is Kobe. There was the Princeton and he was perfect in it efficiency wise. Nash goes down and the team expects him to just simply be the PG over getting the necessary talent to run the damn system . Then when out wing play aside from Artest sucked they made Kobe the default backup SF. This is why he's averaging 43 mpg basically since Decemeber. He's playing more minutes than he should, at by far the highest level on the team, has the highest workload in the league with the most miles, and is just getting it done physically tired or not, and its messing with him mentally because he has no damn time for their excuses as he wants to win now and has to win now as his career is winding down.

Yeah there are problems but a lot of them are actually at the foot of Jerry, not Jim. He should have went all in one way or the other. Not half way back brown, not screw around with Phil because he's blinking your daughter, and then not bringing in Dantoni without his staff or the personnel needed. Guys got to put in work and accept blame, and the Buss family needs to take it first starting with Jerry then Jim then the coaches then Players

Lolz at dwight needing a buddy...and being a cancer to this team and a worse teammate than shaq.

Im giving him the benefit of the doubt, he is more frustrated than anything. He is not upset enough to the point where he is thinking about skipping town, I think thats very premature given all we have had to go through.

I think dwight is just openly speaking his mind and not afraid to voice his frustrations, and technically everything he said was correct. We do need to share the ball more, develop chemistry and most of all be excited and energetic. Players try and lead in their own ways and he is just sharing his frustration at what he thinks is wrong with our team. This tells me that he does care alot and that he knows we have to potential to really be good.

Before long, someone recognized Phil Jackson sitting in the front seat, and then the rocks began to fly. Revelers pelted the bus and shook it, mocking the Lakers at their lowest moment.

“It was painful,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol(notes) said. “It is a feeling that I want to keep in my mind for every single minute that I’m out there playing them.”

Howard spoke his mind who cares? Better than him shying away and kissing Kobe's a** like most do.

Yeah, we're so lucky to have a kid like you point out how stupid we are, how smart you are, and to laugh at us all the time. It's so much better than having posts with actual well thought out points to discuss, big time saver just being mocked by someone so superior instead.

Howard spoke his mind who cares? Better than him shying away and kissing Kobe's a** like most do.

Yeah, we're so lucky to have a kid like you point out how stupid we are, how smart you are, and to laugh at us all the time. It's so much better than having posts with actual well thought out points to discuss, big time saver just being mocked by someone so superior instead.

D'Antoni said if the Lakers' chemistry was lacking, it's simply from lack of time together. For instance, he said the relationship between Howard and point guard Steve Nash on pick and rolls is "not there yet."

"I don't know if it's because of a lack of training camp, or a lack of Steve being with us from the beginning, but the relationship between Steve and Dwight's got to get a lot better," D'Antoni said. "It's not creating the easy shots that we need."

The Lakers' coach also questioned the basic premise that players need to be close off the court to play well together on it.

"I don't know. I played on a lot of teams and I never really hung out with guys all the time," D'Antoni said. "I don't think you have to love each other. But you have to respect each other with what they do on the court."

GoldenKnight wrote:To conclude, he doesn't show he is an alpha male with personality (grunting, growling, pissing all over) He does it on the court as he already stated.

Dissecting the media is all it takes to see their intentions, don't be so quick to jump the gun.

You're right in one thing, he is talking about what being an alpha male means to him and explaining that he can be one without doing all that stuff. What you are missing is that the contrast in the definition he's providing (i.e. "don't have to snarl and growl" and stuff like that) CLEARLY sums up the way he (and many) perceives Kobe's "syle" or whatever. It's very obvious.

"The first time I ever saw my uniform hanging in the locker I put it on right away, and it just felt like I was putting on golden armour. From that day forward, I just called it 'the golden armour', it just felt like there was something mystical and magical about it" - Kobe Bryant.

wcsoldier81 wrote:Can D12 and Pau stop whining and crying about everything and step their game up on the court ?

THIS.

BTW, on that article Rock posted, I have noticed a lot of miscommunication (?) between Howard and Nash or them having different ideas about what they want to do, i.e. Nash dribbling the ball top of the key waiting for Howard to come set the screen and Howard not going over there and instead waiting to get the ball on the block.

I think Nash is recognizing that Howard on the block isn't nearly as good an option as many thought and he's wanting to run P&R more and more, thus sometimes going away from the original course of action and going to the other side of the court and playing P&R with Pau (happened this last game at least once).

"The first time I ever saw my uniform hanging in the locker I put it on right away, and it just felt like I was putting on golden armour. From that day forward, I just called it 'the golden armour', it just felt like there was something mystical and magical about it" - Kobe Bryant.